Mint Sales Figures

Collectors can no longer purchase the proof version of the Julia Grant First Spouse Gold Coin. The United States Mint on Friday indicated that the 24-karat gold coin had sold out and it was moved to the U.S. Mint’s "No Longer Available" section of the website.

Introduced on June 23, 2011 in both proof and uncirculated options, the uncirculated version remains on sale for $991 at http://www.usmint.gov/catalog. [click to continue…]

The United States Mint sold out of the Proof Mary Todd Lincoln First Spouse Gold Coin last week, but not because it reached the maximum mintage or was on sale for a year.

The Mary Todd Lincoln coins launched on December 2, 2010 with a mintage limit of 20,000 across all product options. According to the latest sales figures, however, the proof coin was removed from the US Mint’s line up when the combined total of both the proof and uncirculated reached 53.3% of their maximum, or 10,669. Broken out, collectors purchased 6,909 proof and 3,760 uncirculated, which sold out in June.

Reaching the order limit in this series has been rare. Only the first six strikes maxed out. Those coins honored Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Thomas Jefferson (Liberty). [click to continue…]

Prices keep changing for First Spouse Gold Coins. They went down on Wednesday, September 14 by $25, which means the proofs are $1,079.00 and the uncirculated are $1,066.00.

Before the price drop, however, 681 of the 24-karat one half ounce gold coins sold between Wednesday, September 7 and Monday, September 12, while the prices were at their all-time high. (Suspensions prevented sales earlier in the week.)

As usual the newest release led sales. The Lucy Hayes proof and uncirculated climbed by 424 and 212, respectively. The performance of the Julia Grant coins, on the other hand, was mixed. The Grant proof went up by 27 to take the third top spot for the week, but the uncirculated fell by -8 and came in last place. [click to continue…]

Two newly released First Spouse Gold Coins, honoring Lucy Hayes, debuted on the market on Thursday, September 1, 2011. Unfortunately they were immediately suspended the following day due to skyrocketing gold prices.

The inaugural sales showed collectors picked up 1,265 proof and 857 uncirculated Hayes coins within the first 24 hours, according to the US Mint sales data. As a comparison, when the Julia Grant coins first appeared in June, the Mint sold 1,581 proofs and 1,017 uncirculated after four days of sales. The contrast, however, hardly seems fair given the different lengths of time. [click to continue…]

As gold trended up in the precious metals market, First Spouse Gold Coin prices had to rise on Wednesday, July 20, 2011. The $25 jump moved the prices to the highest seen in the series. The 24-karat gold one-half ounce coins are now $954 for each proof and $941 for each uncirculated.

Many collectors timed their purchases before the price increase, and sales ending on July 18 outperformed the prior week 923 to 376. Leading the pack was the Julia Grant proof coins with 388 compared to 213 in the previous round and her uncirculated version at 271 versus 132. [click to continue…]

Following the week of a new coin debut, sales of First Spouse Gold Coins fell from 2,767 to 920 overall, which was expected. Enthusiasts for the series generally purchase as soon as the new coins launch, then the rush generally tapers off as the weeks pass.

The US Mint did it again. It removed another First Spouse Gold Coin seemingly early. On Thursday, June 2, the Mint stopped selling the uncirculated Mary Todd Lincoln First Spouse Gold Coin. Lincoln’s proof version, however, is still available.

Remarkably, the uncirculated Mary Todd Lincoln issue achieved double digit sales or higher for all but one week since it launched on December 2, 2010. In fact, it gained 174 in the latest round of US Mint sales figures. The coin was on the market for just six months to the day, and it reached a total of 3,760. That number was far less than Buchanan’s Liberty uncirculated when it sold out with 5,348, but it was more than both Jane Pierce and Abigail Fillmore’s uncirculated strikes with 3,333 and 3,489.

Two other coins had triple digit gains in this round, but neither of them were the proof Mary Lincoln coin. That picked up 76 and came in fourth place in this report. Its total moved up to 6,236, so when combined with her uncirculated, they winded up 4 coins short of 10,000. [click to continue…]

Lower prices were short lived. Gold trended back up, so the United States Mint increased prices for First Spouse Gold Coins on Wednesday, May 25, back to the highest level seen in the series. The one-half ounce 24-karat gold coins are $929 for each proof and $916 for each uncirculated.

Pulling in the highest sales were the Eliza Johnson coins. During their second full week of availability, collectors bought 135 more Johnson coins than they did in the prior round. 440 proofs and 276 uncirculated coins were purchased, most likely while the prices were lower, versus 366 and 215 previously. [click to continue…]

The biggest news in weeks for the one-half ounce First Spouse Gold Coins came Wednesday when the United States Mint decreased their prices in response to the recent lower market price of the precious metal. First Spouse coin prices fell from their all-time high of $929 to $904 per proof and from $916 to $891 for each uncirculated.

The Eliza Johnson coins that launched on May 5 might show stronger demand in next week’s report with its new price. Following the weak start of 2,108 sales in its inaugural weekend, the Johnson coins pulled together 581 in this round, which is still sluggish compared to what had been typical for new coins.

Those were not the only coins to show weakness. Two others completely lost some sales during the week. Buchanan’s uncirculated Liberty and Abigail Fillmore’s proof fell by -2 each. [click to continue…]

It has been 22 weeks since the United States Mint last released new First Spouse Gold Coins, but the long wait did not improve the debut sales of the Eliza Johnson Coins. Die hard fans of the series picked up 2,108 of them between their launch on Thursday, May 5 and Sunday, May 8.

Eliza Johnson’s inaugural figures were slower than several recent releases, as the table below demonstrates. Mary Lincoln and Buchanan’s Liberty issues both did exceedingly well during their debut, while Johnson’s was less than half of either of them. Perhaps the record high price of gold put a damper on the enthusiasm a debuting coin usually experiences. Proofs are currently $929 and the uncirculated are $916. [click to continue…]